回到水龍頭:瓶裝水的enviro-woes

但是挑出比其他飲料瓶裝水作為使用塑料包裝的環境威脅以及其碳足跡的建設性的方法保護環境嗎?顯然很多人認為如此,但似乎更容易比關注目標消費者的飲料的選擇,更多的工作是需要確保所有的包裝廢物是找到回收工廠。從今年1月1日,芝加哥城市的政府實施了五分錢稅瓶裝水銷量阻止消費者產品,行業的憤怒。我們城市沒有唯一的擔憂日益增長的瓶裝水消費及其對剩下的材料的影響。舊金山市長加文·紐森去年宣布禁止城市的部門使用錢去買瓶裝水,而紐約官員正在敦促自來水消費減少城市的高水平的包裝浪費。澳大利亞環境聯盟在11月加入了越來越多的國際組織致力於施壓餐館和其他媒體放棄出售瓶裝水和提供各種水龍頭。就我個人而言,更尊重我的錢包比大自然,自來水似乎總是更可取的選擇在一家餐廳,酒吧或任何地方訪問。我能理解,因此,推動自來水在餐館,但我擔心的理由完全壓製有點不公平和誤導,考慮處理器的壓力和消費者轉向更健康飲料的選擇。轉向時自動售貨機或零售商需要自發的茶點,打包購買瓶裝水比任何能量或軟飲料嗎?在理想的情況下,最好用水填滿一個可重用的瓶或容器出發前。 But then could the same not be said for fruit juices, hot drinks or any beverage or food product? The beverage industry as a whole could perhaps appease critics by finding more solutions to refilling existing packaging, including beverage alternatives that can be diluted rather than supplying individual packaging. But this is not a challenge that bottled water manufacturers face alone. It is perhaps a sign then that the bottled water industry is a victim of its own success. Bottled water sales are set to outgrow the once dominant carbonated beverage segment within two years, according to recent research by analyst Zenith International. If the current market growth continues, global consumption of the product is expected to grow to 251bn litres by 2011 from 187bn litres in 2006, Zenith added. This potential is coming in part from growing innovation within the bottled water market, particular for added-value waters that claim to offer nutritional or cosmetic benefits. In Western Europe alone, functional water consumption rose to an estimated 273m litres in 2006 from just 30m litres in 2000, according to Zenith. Amidst this growing potential, the industry unsurprisingly opposes the environmental calls on cutting down on bottled water consumption. The International Bottled Water Association told BeverageDaily.com last year that it believed consumers were not uniformly replacing tap water with bottled water; but were choosing bottled water over the other beverages available at the store and home. While these claims may be open to interpretation, calls for an improved focus on recycling have generally been welcomed by all parties. The plastic bottles in which mineral water and many other soft drinks are contained in is 'fully' recyclable, though the onus is 'fully' on the consumer to return the packaging. Instead of focusing on drinking habits, a sea change in the culture and means for recycling and reusing packaging is surely a more adept strategy in the long-run for both the industry, legislators and consumers.尼爾與生命是一個BeverageDaily.com的記者,寫了在一係列問題上的出版物英國和法國。如果你想要評論這篇文章,請電子郵件尼爾。與在decisionnews.com。